By Wassim Saif al-Din
BEIRUT (AA) – Jamal Suleiman, leader of the Palestinian Ansar Allah group, set out from Lebanon to Syria on Wednesday as part of a deal aimed at mitigating tensions in Lebanon's Mieh Mieh camp for Palestinian refugees, Palestinian security sources said.
The camp has seen several armed clashes in recent weeks between Ansar Allah — which enjoys the support of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group — and members of the Palestinian Fatah movement, which left dozens dead and injured from both sides in their wake.
Eighteen people, including some family members, accompanied Suleiman on his trip to Syria, Palestinian security sources from inside the camp told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
The same sources also confirmed Suleiman’s arrival in Damascus’s Mezzeh district in accordance with a deal hashed out earlier between Palestinian factions and the Lebanese authorities.
Palestinian security sources who preferred anonymity told Anadolu Agency that Maher Owaid, an Ansar Allah security official, had since assumed responsibility for the group’s activities inside the refugee camp.
In mid-October, Palestinian resistance faction Hamas announced that a cease-fire had been hammered out at a meeting in Lebanon between representatives of leading Palestinian factions.
Fatah, Hamas and Ansar Allah all reportedly maintain an armed presence inside the Mieh Mieh refugee camp, which is located roughly four kilometers east of Lebanon’s coastal city of Sidon.
Established in 1954, the Mieh Mieh camp is currently home to some 5,000 Palestinian refugees.
